C.E.J. Pacian presents the world's first liquid-fuelled rocket-blog: trapped in a hyperbolic orbit to nowhere in particular.

27.11.08

Wanted: Another Diary Like This

This is my 2008 diary. I bought it in March, when I spotted it in a display of diaries on sale, and my thoughts as I walked out of WH Smith's were something like, "Great. Just wasted five quid."

But since, at the start of November, I encountered the page advising me to buy my 2009 diary before stocks run out, I've been in a bit of a panic. This thing's turned out to be the perfect diary for me in so many ways, and for next year I just can't find another one like it.

The most obvious bit of weird goodness this diary has that I'm pretty much resigned to not having in my next diary is that it's ring bound. I always like my notebooks to be ring bound, so I can fold the pages right back and write with it resting on my knee or whatever. The ring bound, page-a-day diary that WH Smith's are selling this year has really gaudy stripes on the cover - which is another thing I liked about this one: the cover was pretty much blank, which meant I was free to stick a picture from Metal Slug on it. And then of course the transparent protective cover means that my stuck-on stuff is protected as it gets bashed about in my bag.

It's also a perfect size: slightly narrower and slightly taller than A6. It's small enough to slide into a pocket, but still gives plenty of space to write in. I've found it to be the perfect page for adding notes each day for whatever my current project is, or making lists, or writing down directions, or drawing doodles and diagrams surrounded by text. On which note, all the printed lines in this diary are blue, which means I can easily write and draw over them with my preferred black-ink pens.

I've really gotten used to writing down random thoughts and ideas in my diary during the day. All I want from my diary next year is for it to be the same size and make, but sadly it seems that this one was simply unique. :-(

8 comments:

I expect you've looked everywhere already; the only type I've seen so far are the usual black or red ones (no rings). Try Woolworths? Before it disappears. :-) Local student union? Pound shop? Markets?

Wow - you still have Woolworth's in the UK? I'm envious...Sometimes it feels like the US and the UK are in alternate universes. Will you be able to see Jupiter and Venus lining up with the crescent moon on Dec 1st? You're supposed to be able to see them well, even in the cities. Good luck finding a new diary.

I am so bad about keeping up a journal. I have these huge lapses between entries - years.

Now I just use them as a change of pace in writing...mostly freewriting. I wonder about that pacing thing with writing. Check it out: if you're typing, you're getting your ideas down at a certain rate of speed - your ideas are coming and your getting them down. With handwriting - you're getting your ideas down slower, but maybe you're developing them more, taking more time.

I've been having more and more trouble writing stuff since typing everything became such second nature. I read somewhere that the average person can type maybe 40 to 70 wpm (on the slower side when composing), but handwriting is more like 30 wpm. So my mind surges ahead and I find myself writing down words, letters and tenses I haven't actually reached yet. My journal is a mess... lots of scribblings out.

But it's nice to take the thing with me, usually to bed. Can't take a computer to bed, and lean back against the pillows.

Anyway, you've got me hunting everywhere for diaries now. Other possibilities: Rymans, Viking Direct, Staples. I wonder if the one you saw in Woollies was the one I saw yesterday... a spiral diary with a plastic cover, slightly see-through with coloured rings on it (I know you don't like that but maybe you could cover it over somehow), a page to a day (nice), quite thin pages... currently £8 at full price. It might come down during the last days (we're hovering like vultures, sorry to say). I don't want Woollies to go.